How are you guys liking this story? It'll get better, I promise! .. Now on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own YuGiOh

Chapter 2:A Minute

Anzu and Kaiba sat on the couch as Honda drank his beer by the balcony of the second floor of the apartment. Yami sat quietly across from Kaiba and Anzu in a chair and Jounouchi sat at the dinner table with his sister Shizuka by his side.

"Pegasus knew she was an easy target. He knew I wouldn't be around her because I was away working. So I had to plot and have Yami and Honda help me." Jounouchi finished his story concerning his sister Shizuka being raped and Pegasus's involvement. With tears in Shizuka's eyes, she hugged him, careful not to wound him anymore. Kaiba sighed heavily.

"He was going to go after my brother. After he killed me, he would have killed my younger brother. I had to send my brother away for a year for protection. So I know how you feel, Jounouchi." Anzu's hand touched his, making him look at her. She have him a comforting smile and let go of his hand, bringing it back to her lap.

"But it's over. He's dead. And he won't hurt me, you or Shizuka anymore. Believe me Shizuka, I should know first hand how ruthless those men were." Both girls looked at each other and smiled. "I'm sorry about what happened to you." Shizuka didn't respond, and went back to treating Jounouchi's wounds. Anzu wasn't offended, she knew that Shizuka wanted to drop the delicate subject.

"Doesn't it hurt Jou?" Honda mocked. Obviously the beer was getting to him. Jounouchi huffed and pulled his arm away from his silent sister.

"Hell no it doesn't. It's just a couple of scratches. But I'm done now, right Shizuka?" The auburn haired young girl looked up at him and pleasantly nodded. "Good. Thanks. Who's up? Yami? Honda? What about you Kaiba? She'll look at you." Anzu and Kaiba immediately looked at each other and looked away at the same time, making Yami raise an eyebrow. Jounouchi was oblivious to the slight blushes on Anzu's face, while Kaiba faked a cough and stood.

"I didn't get hurt." He walked out without another word towards the balcony. Honda leaned in out of the balcony and inside the balcony on the balls of his feet.

"Maybe he's afraid of the pain!" He yelled out. Jounouchi shrugged and let Kaiba walk outside into the dark night. He saw Anzu sullenly look out the balcony doors, trying to see where Kaiba went off to. Shizuka was cleaning up the dinner table from gauzes and medical tape. Sitting down next to Anzu on the couch, he put his arm around the couch behind her head.

"Don't you want to take a get out of those clothes, take a shower and eat a hot meal?" A surprised and tense Anzu sat up straight, no longer looking for Kaiba but looking at her hands.

"I would love that." She quietly responded. A smile came across his face and he looked up at Yami, who was frowning. Ignoring the look, he stood up and left to a bedroom. Honda stumbled into the balcony and Shizuka hesitantly followed, making sure he didn't fall off the balcony, leaving Yami and Anzu alone.

"Mazaki. You're father was very important. Do you know that?" Yami asked her. The mentioning of her father making her look up at him with wide eyes. How did this guy know about her father? "You are known as a princess of rising immigrant mobsters. The organization he left for you must be huge by now and they'd be happy to have you back as their boss. Now that you're surely alive, you could go back to take over. Is that what you're going to do now?" He looked back to see if anyone entered the room. With a wry smiled, Anzu leaned forward to take a sip out of her beer. Leaning back into the couch, she looked over at the balcony's direction, avoiding eye contact.

"What about your father? As a daughter of a well known immigrant mobster, I know all of the other big shots. You're father was a great man according to my father. What happened after he died? Did the empire die? Or did you let it die yourself?" She bitterly said. The moment she saw Yami she remembered his father. One day they met with her father. The man was nice, kind and gentle. Surely a feared man, but also a man you got along with easily. Had you messed with his turf, you'd be dead. But if you were kind and respectful towards him, he would treat you the same. Even Pegasus had to go down on his knees when it came to Yami's father. It was a shock to her and her father when they heard that he had died. Though it was sad , it meant opportunity to claim territories that belonged to the former mobster. Which meant an all out war for his old territories. What became of his predecessor? His son? No one knew, until now. Here he was in a run down apartment drinking beer sitting on a chair right across from her. Had her father been alive to see this, he would have died twice. Hearing Jounouchi moving around in the bedroom, she leaned close towards Yami. Her face softened.

"Please don't give away who I really am. It'll only cause more trouble." She whispered with a hint of panic in her voice before standing up, getting the gauze tape and bowl full of water then headed outside with Honda , Shizuka and Kaiba.

xxxxxx

Anzu walked into the balcony to see Kaiba sitting on the ledge at looking up at the sky his back turned towards her smoking a cigarette. Meanwhile Honda was sitting down on the floor next to Shizuka who was trying to pull him up. She had to admit he looked good underneath the moon. His leg was propped up with his elbow resting on his knee every so often smoking his cigarette. Walking behind Kaiba, she set the medical supplies on the floor.

"Do you want me to dress your wounds?" Anzu asked politely. Not hearing her come up behind him, he turned around immediately. Humored by his fright, she stepped back and chuckled. "Sorry to scare you." Turning back around, Kaiba took another puff of his cigarette.

"You didn't scare me." After a silent 'o', Anzu sat next to him, taking the cigarette out of his hand and taking a puff herself. "If you wanted one you could have just asked instead of taking mine." Kaiba mumbled irritably.

"Sorry." She mumbled back and threw the cigarette below her. Kaiba watched as his still smokable cigarette toppled down to the ground, the red light flickering for a second, then vanishing into the night. "Do you want me to dress your wounds?" She asked again. Getting up from the ledge she took the medical supplies and set them next to him.

"I'm not hurt Mazaki." Hearing her last name made her heart stop. Not wanting to hear her reminder of why she was locked up for two years, she shakily sighed.

"Please don't call me that. Call me Anzu. Or girl, or even bitch. I don't care what name just." With a pause, she sat back down on the ledge next to Kaiba, her feet dangling. "just anything but Mazaki." Having a feeling that she didn't want to hear that name because of Pegasus, he nodded in agreement.

"Fine. Girl." Looking up at him ,she saw his playful smile. A beautiful smile. "But like I said I'm not hurt." Scoffing, she poked his arm, making him wince. "What the hell?"

"You have a gash on your left arm. You may not see it but that's because your trench coat is hiding it. But I bet if you took it off you would see that your whole left sleeve is full of blood. Not to mention a gash about three inches long." Sounding like a professional or a medical expert, he didn't believe her. So he took off his trench coat, revealing his upper left sleeve completely stained with his blood and in the middle of his upper arm was a large gash. "I knew because when we were on the last stairs there were three men who came at us. Fortunately you dodged out of the w ay but the bullet grazed you. I saw it because I shot the guy." Kaiba just looked at his arm in pure shock.

"I didn't even notice it." He whispered to himself.

"Yea. Well, if you don't get it treated you could have a 46 of infection seeing at how deep that gash is and how long it's been untreated." Sometimes dressing her fathers gang members wounds paid off. There were always doctors at her house cleaning up after men who were shot, and she learned a lot from years of seeing the same wounds and how to treat it. "I'm practically an expert at this, Kaiba." She stated confidently. Raising both his eyebrows, he sighed and laid his trench coat on his lap, then proceeded to unbutton his shirt. What he revealed what a beautifully sculpted chest. It was lean, but full of muscle with a six pack that made Anzu look away for a second so that she didn't start to drool. What she noticed was a card shaped necklace. It looked like a locket of some kind. Not wanting to be a pest she decided not to ask him about it. "Obviously you know the drill too." Getting up, she helped him slip his arms off the sleeves. Did he even have any body fat? She thought as she held his shirt.

"Experience I guess. This isn't the only wound I got from a gun." She sat back down next to him, and he held out his left arm. Slowly she took the cloth in the bowl and cleaned the blood off his arm. The cool water made him tense up, then relaxed as her fingers brushed against his skin. Her wrist came into view of his eyes and noticed the deep scratches on her wrist. Gently taking one with his right hand, below the scratches, he raised her wrist to his eyelevel to examine it. "Where did you get this from?" The feel of his big hands on her wrist made her blush, not to mention it brought her closer to him. When he grabbed her wrist he pulled her closer, making her bump into his arm.

"I wasn't behaving." Was all she said before she took her wrist back and dunked the cloth back into the water. "It's nothing." With an eyebrow raised, he muttered an okay.

"Just make sure you get that treated. If you want I'll take care of it for you." Mockingly he said to her. Kaiba did know how to dress a wound, but he didn't think she'd take up his offer.

" Sure. After I get yours done. This won't hurt a bit." She whispered very close to his ear when she leaned in further to clean his wound.

xxxx

Jounouchi returned with clothes in his hands.

"Where did she go?" He asked Yami. Yami turned his head towards the balcony.

"They're all out there." Jounouchi nodded and walked out the balcony as well, with Yami following behind. Anzu sat on the ledge in front of Kaiba. His trench coat was off as well as his shirt. She was taping some gauze on his arm as he looked out into the night sky. The both of them weren't saying anything. Shizuka was behind them and Honda sat next to the door sipping on his bottle.

"Anzu, I got you some clothes." Jounouchi called out. She looked back and smiled at him, setting the tape and gauze down beside her. She said something to Kaiba, which he didn't respond to. Kaiba took his shirt from her lap and put it on, leaving the shirt open.

"Thank you. May I go take a shower now? " She asked politely, making Kaiba looked back at Jounouchi. Jounouchi smiled back at her with a nod and handed out her clothes.

"Yes, of course. Shizuka, could you get her bath ready?" With a nod from the silent sibling, she took Anzu by her hand and lead her away from the balcony. Honda stumbled his way back into the apartment disappearing to God no where. To make sure he didn't hurt himself, Yami walked in after Honda did. Jounouchi walked up to a silent Kaiba and leaned against the ledge.

"It's a shame what happened to her. She's such a nice and cute girl." Kaiba nodded in agreement and took out two cigarettes, handing one out to Jounouchi. "Thanks." They both lit up their cigarettes and silently smoked it, doing nothing but looking at the sky.

"Why doesn't your sister talk?" Kaiba asked out of no where. After a heavy sigh, Jounouchi sat down.

"Well, would you want to talk after being raped? The poor girl was that traumatized."

"Maybe Maza-.. the other girl could help her out. She's been the same thing and worse." He remembered that she didn't like the name Mazaki and wanted to respect her wishes.

"Yea. How to you know her anyways?" Jounouchi had to ask that question, It made him almost jealous that Kaiba and her already had some kind of connection. The connection he wanted with her. Maybe they were involved, maybe they weren't. He just had to know.

"I met her today like you. She was in a room tied up. Well, she was tied up and managed to escape before I came. After that I came into the room, she tried to kill me and she saw that I wasn't with Pegasus. Then we both went after Pegasus." What the guard did to her in that room he didn't want to know. But the cut on her wrists were fresh and were most likely caused by the guard. Before she went off to take a shower, she told him that she would be back for her dressing. "She's odd." He said out loud. "How can she be so cheery when she overcame such an ordeal? All the after havoc will be tough on her too. Do you think she could be strong enough for it? Do you think it's all a mask?" Cheery? Jounouchi didn't see that at all in her. What he saw was a still scared young girl. He guessed it was only natural that she felt safer with Kaiba since he did sort of save her.

"She's comfortable around you. I don't think it is a mask. It's just comfort that you see. Around me, she's not like that. At least not now. She's really tense and quiet around me." Hating to admit it, he said it anyways. Honda and Yami came in with more beers. Honda was now walking properly and most likely more sober than he was half an hour ago.

"You guys want any?" Yami asked as he sat next to Jounouchi. Honda sat himself on the floor and leaned back on his hands. Kaiba took one and so did Jounouchi. "Anzu told me to tell you thank you Jounouchi. The clothes fit her." Honda smiled goofily and laughed out loud.

"Talk about beauty, huh? Jounouchi, this girl will be living with your sister!" Kaiba's ears perked up. He forgot that she was going to live with Jounouchi's sister. The look on Jounouchi's face was that of a happy man. It was obvious that he had a crush on her. Who wouldn't? She was beautiful, skillful, smart young woman who was rich to boot. Kaiba now remembered who she was exactly. The Mazaki empire. The biggest little immigration organization who paved the way for the underdogs to succeed. She was impure for his type of clan. She was underneath him, but when it came to what she stood for. More so what her father stood for, then she was a princess to the immigration organizations world. By now her organization should be huge. The people who joined after he father died waited for two years for their princess to come back. She was as well known as her own father. For years there were rumors that she was skilled enough as a leader to overthrow her father. Now was her chance. Her father was dead and she was alive and well. So now his guess was why she was going to live in this poor neighborhood.

"Don't you think she has family?" Jounouchi asked. Obviously he didn't have a clue who she was. Yami caught Kaiba's facial expression. It was one that said are you kidding me? Knowing Kaiba knew who she was and was going to explain it to Jounouchi, Yami spoke up.

"No. They're all dead. She has no one." Yami made sure Kaiba followed along not to say anything by emphasizing no one. After a silent 'o', Kaiba didn't say anything.

"That's so sad for her. At least Shizuka has me and you guys."

"Well, now she has us. We'll take care of her. " Yami said. He knew she didn't want to go back to her old life. It only brought her misery. It was a feeling he knew all too well.

"Just don't fall in love with her, Jounouchi." Honda stated seriously.

"If you do, we'll beat you." Yami stated equally serious. This made Jounouchi quite and Kaiba curiously look at the blushing Jounouchi. After a silent minute, Honda laughed.

"He fell for it!" He yelled out. Yami patted Jounouchi on the back.

"We were just joking." Even Kaiba had to chuckle at Jounouchi's reaction. Getting up and puffing out his chest, he stuck his nose in the air.

"I knew that you asses!"

Xxx

Anzu looked at herself in the fogged up mirror. It took forever to untangle her long hair, but the job got done. When she took a shower the cuts on her body stung. Thank God she had no infections on them. As she turned around she caught a scar on her back in the mirror. The scar caused by Pegasus on the first year. It was her punishment. Her punishment for trying to escape. He took her out as a toy to a restaurant and got wasted. When she asked to go to the bathroom he unchained her from him and let her go. After trying to escape through the bathroom window, she found out that at the end of the alley were two guards waiting for her. Apparently Pegasus wasn't that drunk and ordered the men to beat her with a whip if she tried to escape. For two weeks she was locked up in a basement and was beaten with the whip by the guards and Pegasus. She was hospitalized at his home for five months. The memory made her shudder. She got more beatings after that but she was used to it. The last beating she got was three weeks ago when she escaped from her chains and was found strangling a guard. Her escape attempts became more skilled and Pegasus knew he had to do something. He tied her up to a bed day and night only coming to check on her every once and a while. But it was all over now. A knock on the bathroom door made her jump. It was Shizuka. She knew because the knocking was gentle.

"Just a minute." Putting on the clothes Jounouchi gave her, she made sure she looked decent. The white tank top was a little tight, but Shizuka's jeans fit perfectly. Opening the door, she saw it wasn't Shizuka but Kaiba. Who knew he could be gentle.

The Anzu he saw before him looked more refreshed. Her hair was still wet and clung to her shoulders and arms. The white tank top she wore was tight, showing her midriff a little and hugging her breasts like a second skin. Her jeans fit her nicely, hugging her hips and showing even more of her midriff. The black bra and straps were visible, he almost wished she would put something else on if she was going out there in front of the boys. Her hands immediately went behind her back, hiding the cuts on her wrists.

"Do you want me to fix your wounds now?" Kaiba asked coolly, with his hands in his pockets. Feeling self conscious about her clothes now, she backed up a little and nodded shyly, placing her hair off her back on her shoulder. "Good. I'll meet you at the dining table if you're ready." Behind her he could see the mirror reflecting her back. Since the tank top was wet because of her hair, he could see a dark line going up and down on her back. "What is that?" He asked, making her look behind her to see what he was looking at. She saw the mirror and was confused. Then she felt his hands on her back, raising her shirt.

"What are you doing?" Panicking, she tried to move forward to get his hands off her now bare back. But his hands planted themselves in her shoulder, steadying her and pushed her in the bathroom, closing the door behind them. If he it was what he thought it was, he knew she wouldn't want anyone to know. "I said what are you doing?" Her voice now higher than usual. With a low shh, he began to lift the back of her shirt again. Breathing heavily and on the verge of tears, she still somehow remained still, not sure what he was looking at. Raising her shirt right above the back of her bra strap, he traced a lightly bleeding long gash that went from the middle of her back to her lower back with his finger, making her involuntarily shiver. Around it were smaller gashes, all healed. But the biggest one looked like it was still not healed.

"Oh my God." He whispered as he traced the other scars on her back. "Was it Pegasus?" He heard a sniffle, and it was now obvious that she was crying. It hurt to hear her cry. How much would it hurt if he turned her around to see her cry?

"Yes." Was her shaky whisper. He could see on her arms were other faded cuts and bruises. She must have been through hell and back. Why was she so cheery then? Why wasn't she the person he saw now?

"What other wounds to you have?" He had to ask. It was curiosity, pure curiosity. What else did this monster do to her? What other scars did she have? After a shaky sigh, she turned around, a curtain of hair and bangs covering her eyes. Though he didn't see her eyes, the streaks of tears were visible on her cheeks. Lifting her arms, she took off her tank top, revealing little paper cut looking cuts across her flat stomach. Confused, he bent down to look closely. They were faded cuts. They ran across her stomach, ineligible. "What.."

"It used to say Asian princess. After a year the cuts faded." Her head was still down and her arms limply on her sides. Dropping the shirt on the bathroom floor, she raised her head and put her hands behind her back, reaching for something. She turned around and he realized that she was taking off her bra.

"You don't have to.." Kaiba began not sure what she was doing. But his sentence trailed off, not knowing what else he could say. When she turned back around, she was covering her breasts with her hands, but he could now see a cross shaped cut right in between her breasts. "What is it?"

"Pegasus told me after he killed me, he was going to take out my heart and show it to the people. Say that the heart of the Mazaki empire will always be with him, as if it was some kind of joke. One night he came and showed me with his knife where he was going to cut my heart out." Looking to his side, he reached for a towel and placed it on her shoulders, covering the front of her. "My ankles look like my wrists do and my knees are cut as well. But he never did anything.." He didn't want to hear anymore, he reached down for her tank top.

"That's enough." Dismally, he said. Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked at the mirror, at herself.

"I just want you to know so that you don't think he did anything like that to me. Even if you think it's not your business. I want you to know." A smile came across her lips. "I think he was gay. If he wasn't he would have surely.." Kaiba sternly looked at her. A look that was enough to make her stop.

"I don't want you talking like that. It's not a joke." His back now turned away from her so she could put her bra and tank top back on.

"Then how should I talk about it, Kaiba? Like a sad pathetic girl? I'm not. I'm going to be strong about this. I've been strong about this. Even after all the torture and threats! I've never showed him or any of those perverted guards that I was weak!" She yelled out behind Kaiba. Now that he thought about it, she said Pegasus not doing anything to her, but what about the same men who raped Shizuka?

"Did those guards ever do anything to you? Like they did to Shizuka." Her silence was his answer. "How many times?" He could hear her sit down on the floor. Turning around confirmed that she was on the floor, but on her knees, staring off into space. It was as if she was remembering.

"Once." Her words choked. "Almost once. Another guard came just in time though. One more second and I wouldn't have been a…" He could hear her gulp. Her eyes wide, and distant now. "He was drunk. I pushed him too far. I didn't know he was drunk and thought I could seduce him or something." Standing up, she brushed off anything on her knees. After a chuckle, she passed by Kaiba, opening the door. "It worked." Sighing heavily, Kaiba followed Anzu out to the dining room. Jounouchi looked grim when he stood by the dining table.

"I forgot to mention, the walls are pretty thin here. When I started to hear you guys, I sent everyone outside." He looked at Anzu with sadness in his eyes. "I'm so sorry." Kaiba could feel her stiffen, and she fidgeted with her hands.

"It's nothing." Her quiet voice was hard to hear, but they both still caught it.

"Do you want to stay here? I mean, are you more comfortable somewhere else?" Hinting at Kaiba. Even though he had a crush on her, he just cared for her best interest. If she didn't feel safe at Shizuka's she would have probably called Kaiba anyways. Plus he wanted to prove Honda wrong; he wasn't going to fall in love with her. Looking back at Kaiba, she nodded.

"Do you think you would be safer at my place?" Kaiba asked. Jounouchi sadly looked down at the floor and smiled.

"I think you would feel better there. Living with only Shizuka doesn't hold much protection. You'd be much more safer with Kaiba, don't you think?" With a smirk he looked at Kaiba. "Plus I think he can afford you and I can't really support Shizuka's apartment and mine with another guest." It was a lie and he knew it, he stole for a living and could easily afford anything. He just knew that she would have to say yes to living with Kaiba after that.

"If Kaiba doesn't mind." No longer interested in the conversation, he directed her to a chair and sat next to her.

"Let's fix your wrist now." Doing as she was told, she held out both her wrists and Kaiba started wiping her wrist with alcohol. "To get out of your hair, when we're don we'll leave." Jounouchi nodded in agreement knowing that it was late and Yami and Honda probably were going home in a few minutes.

"Come over tomorrow. Shizuka can cook pretty well and she'll make you guys lunch, okay?" Anzu looked up and smiled while Kaiba concentrated on her wrists.

"That would be nice. Thank you. We'll come, right Kaiba?" An uh huh was heard, making her smile even more. "Then it's settled." Anzu said happily. After hearing that she was going to live with Kaiba, her mood lifted. Jounouchi sadly saw it. Maybe they weren't meant to be. Maybe he was too late. Turning around to get his friends and his sister he waved to them from behind.

"Then it is settled. We'll see you tomorrow around noon."

"Okay." He heard Anzu say. Yup, as much as he didn't want to admit it, Honda was right. He was going to fall in love with her, whether she was living close to him or not.


I already had this chapter done a while ago and just found it today.. Funny, huh? I don't even know if the grammar is okay or not. It probably isn't, knowing me. Well here it is.. Hopefully I'll get some more reviews? .. Please?